


The Maze

by 19thjester



Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: M/M, Sam is a cornfucker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 20:04:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13725009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/19thjester/pseuds/19thjester
Summary: Sam and Al visit Indiana for Thanksgiving, and Al gets lost.





	The Maze

_ November 25, 1987 _

A crisp fall wind blew, knocking what remained of the leaves off the trees. Al, bundled up in a long brown coat, watched his feet disappear under the dead brown leaves as he shuffled through them. Then he glanced up at Sam, who was looking out with joy at the maze stretching out ahead of him.

For Thanksgiving, Star Bright had generously granted their employees a full week off. So Sam seized the opportunity and bought himself and Al plane tickets to Indiana. He wanted Al to meet his family, he said. At first Al had been reluctant. Sam wouldn’t be able to meet his family, after all. But then he remembered Ruthie and how she and her family had welcomed him so warmly years ago. Surely Sam’s family would be the same.

It was a huge occasion, with Sam coming home for the first time in a long time, so his mother, along with Katie and her family, had also flown out from Hawaii. Tom was taking care of the farm with his family those days, so he invited everyone to stay there. When Sam and Al showed up in late afternoon, Tom asked them if it was okay for them to share a bedroom. Sam said it was, while Al had to excuse himself to keep from laughing out loud right then and there.

“What’s the matter with you, Al?” Sam hissed when he caught up with him.

“Sorry, Sam. But you said we couldn’t tell them anything, so this is quite a nice surprise.” Al couldn’t resist a leer.

“Don’t get any ideas. I told you how my family can get.” Sam’s face twisted into disappointment.

“And you escaped to the city for a reason.” Al rolled his eyes. “So can we do anything around here? Other than milking cows?”

Sam had to laugh. “We can take a walk, let you cool off a bit.” He slung his arm around Al’s shoulders. “Hey, I’m so happy I get to be with all of my family for Thanksgiving, including you."

Al hugged Sam back in a one-armed hug. “Me too.” In a quieter voice, he added, “Love ya.”

“Love you too. Come on, I’ll show you where we went every November growing up.”

A long walk down a few country roads led them to a massive corn field. People were milling around. There were a few stands selling cider, doughnuts and other fall treats. A plywood sign painted green with bright yellow lettering announced, “CORN MAZE THIS WAY! $1 TO ENTER.” Sam’s eyes lit up when he saw the maze.

“A corn maze?” Al squinted one eye at Sam. “This is what you do for fun around here?”

“With me here, it’s going to be a lot more fun for you, Al,” Sam promised. He ripped open his wallet, Al wincing slightly, and handed over two dollar bills to the high school boy manning the maze entrance.

Al wasn’t sure what to think. The tall, dried golden stalks of corn towered over him, a paler version of the jungle. As long as he kept close to Sam, at least touching arm to arm, Al was safe. 

Sam said, “Keep right and we’ll get out of the maze. Don’t worry, Al, we won’t get lost.”

“You sure about that?” Al peered warily at the dark gaps between the stalks. “Nothing won’t pop out and scare the shit outta me?”

“Halloween was three weeks ago. No, Al, nothing will.” Sam looked around before giving Al’s hand a quick squeeze. Then they continued walking.

As they walked through the maze, the sun sank below the horizon. Floodlights came on and lit up their way. The shadows from the cornstalks intensified, and Al automatically stepped closer to Sam. He didn’t want to get lost in the jungle again.

Except. 

Where was Sam? 

He wasn’t there anymore. Al spun around. No Sam behind him, or ahead of him. Or anywhere. Not down that way, or this way. 

If he took a shortcut, maybe he could find a way to get out of the maze fast. He could get some cider, maybe flirt with a girl or two while waiting for Sam. Get the last laugh, yeah?

Al looked in the direction the sun had set. Where was he? What direction had they entered the maze in? With those in consideration, he looked around for the best way to go. Maybe if he went back to the direction they’d started from? That’d work too. Al confidently walked forward, going off the path and through the tangles of cornstalks.

Forward forward forward. 

It was rough going, since so much of the stuff from the cornstalks kept brushing off on him. A lot of the dried husks from the cornstalks were getting caught on the band of his yellow fedora. Whatever, maybe he’d blend in with the locals now.

Al kept walking. 

Surely, he had to be close to the start now? How far had he and Sam walked, anyway? He didn’t remember. Al took deep breaths to steady himself. 

Keep going.

The light coming through the cornstalks got brighter and brighter. He was so close! He emerged from between the cornstalks to… another part of the maze. Damn. 

Then Al turned his head. Two kids were staring at him, eyes as wide as saucers.

“Hi,” he said with a wave. Then he knelt down in front of the kids. “Can you tell me how to get out?”

The kids bolted in the opposite direction, screaming something about a corn monster. What was  _ that _ all about? Al rubbed the side of his head, and a few dried husks fell off from his hat. Oh. Al shrugged. Now how to get out? Keep walking.

He didn’t think the path would take him back to the start- it was better to keep going. Al walked forward through the cornstalks, confident that he would make it.

As he went deeper into the cornstalks, the shadows intensified. But he needed to get out. All he had to do was walk. 

Wait. Was this Indiana in November or Vietnam in March? When he came out into a clearing in the middle of the maze that didn’t seem to have any paths connecting to it, he had his answer. All the fallen husks and remnants of corn told him where he was. But how was he going to get out?! He felt as hopeless as he’d been back in the jungle.

Al stood in the middle of the clearing and looked up. Other than the floodlights, the sky overhead was inky black.

He did the only thing he could think to do. He threw back his head and screamed, “SAM! WHERE ARE YOU?  _ SAM! _ ”

Silence. Then.

A faint, “ _ AL! _ ”

“SAM!” Al screamed.

“ _ I’M GOING TO FIND YOU! _ ”

Al sat down in the middle of the clearing and hugged his knees. Sam was coming. He’d found Sam, finally, so he’d be okay. He put his head down.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but soon, strong arms encircled him. “God, Al, you’re a sight.”

“Sam?” Al blinked and looked up. 

Sam was there, grinning and kneeling next to him. He brushed some dried husks off of Al’s hat. “You should hear what the other people in the maze are going on about. Some rogue corn monster running through the maze, scaring the crap out of kids.”

Al thought of the kids screaming about the corn monster then looked down at himself, really looked. Dried husks and other crap from the cornstalks were stuck all over him. “Oh. I guess I was in survival mode, not really thinking. I’m sorry, Sam.”

“Al.” Sam’s voice was gentle now. “Didn’t you hear me? I said, keep right on the path and we’ll get out of the maze. Lucky for you, we’re close to the exit.”

Al took his hat off and examined it. Sure enough, the band was stuffed with dried husks. He shook it out, enough for most of them to fall out, then jammed it back on his head. “Great. What’s your town gonna think when you walk out of here with the fearsome corn monster?”

“I dunno, you make for a great corn monster. I’d be proud to walk out with one, as a matter of fact.” Sam stood up and held out his hands to Al.

Al glared at him.

“Come on. They won’t know. Besides, don’t ya want dinner?”

“...can I get doughnuts after we get outta here?”

Sam laughed. “Yes.”

Al took Sam’s hands and got up. Sam let go of Al’s hands and pulled Al’s coat off of him. In his black shirt with the collar edged in white, Al looked much less like the fearsome corn monster now. Sam draped Al’s coat over one arm and brushed some stray corn debris off of Al’s hat.

“Ready?” Sam asked. 

Al grabbed Sam in a long, tight hug then looked him fully in the eyes. “Yes.”

After crashing through one specific spot, they were on a long stretch that led directly to the exit. 

Sam insisted on buying him hot apple cider and doughnuts once they’d gotten out and wouldn’t let Al treat himself.

In the chill evening air, the cider warmed Al up. “Sam, I’m so sorry I was running around like that.”

“Al, it’s fine. Really. Ready to come home and say hi to my family? Really, our family now.”

 

***

 

It wasn’t as bad as Al had feared. 

Thelma was very welcoming, giving Al a hug when he came in. “Sam’s talked so much about you, so it’s lovely to finally meet you!” 

Tom was thrilled to meet a fellow Navy man. “If I hadn’t had to leave to take care of the farm, I think I’d be a career man like you.” He and Al discussed their different fields and where they’d both gone. Tom envied Al for getting to be stationed in Japan

Then Sam’s nephews clambered all over Al, begging for military stories.

“It was a good evening,” Al said to Sam when they went to their bedroom, near the back of the house. 

“I told you it’d be fine, Al. They like you!”

Al squinted him. “Enough to accept it when you tell them about that eensy-weensy ceremony we had in June?” They’d been wearing their rings on chains around their necks.

“Tom was in the military, Al. I can’t tell them because you know how it is.”

“Damn right I do.” Al flopped back on one of the beds in the room, the twin. Then he sat up and looked at the other bed, a full. “Think I can squeeze in on the other one?”

“As long as you don’t keep me up with your snoring!”

They changed for bed, and then Al snuggled in next to Sam.

Sam’s sleepy voice drifted over to Al’s exposed ear. “Hey, if you want to sleep in the other bed, it’s fine.”

“What, trying not to put up with my snoring?” Al bopped Sam’s arm. “I like this, being next to you.”

They lay there, eyes closed. Then Sam whispered, “Do you hear anything?”

Al listened. Not a peep.

“Everyone in the house is sleeping like the dead,” Sam whispered. 

“Sam. What are you thinking?”

Sam’s hand rubbed Al’s arm, then his shoulder, then his back. “I’m sorry about what happened in the corn maze. I should have kept a closer eye on you. I shouldn’t have let you get lost, make an idiot of yourself.”

Al half-smiled. “I’ve been humiliated way worse than that, especially going through plebe summer. Like you said, nobody recognized me when I came out. Maybe they’ll have a local legend now.” He widened his eyes and intoned, “Behold… the Elk Ridge Corn Monster who emerges from the local corn maze every November!”

Sam shook with suppressed laughter. “You really did make a fantastic corn monster, Al. I wish I’d had a camera on me!”

“Good thing you didn’t.” Al rolled his eyes. “Just the memories will be enough. And anyway, if you ever make an idiot out of yourself in the future, you can remember that you saw me turned into a corn monster and you were okay with it.”

“Mmm. Al, can you dig in my bag? There’s a surprise in there.”

Al leaned over the side of the bed. “Lube? Sam, I thought you didn’t want to…?”

“I feel bad, all right? I can see it’s really rough on you, being in a totally different environment. I thought it’d be tough for me, since it’s been a while. But I didn’t think about how you’d take it.”

Al cupped Sam’s chin. “Hey. It’s okay. You don’t have to.”

“No, I want to. The cornstalks only rustle at night... “ Sam’s hand ran over Al’s body, sending shivers down Al’s spine. “And the corn monster can stay as quiet.” His hand drifted to Al’s cock.

Al ground into Sam’s hand as they kissed and touched. Then Al’s hands drifted down Sam’s sides. “Come on, turn over.”

“Nah,” Sam smirked. “You turn over.”

“Me? You sure, Sam?”

“Shut up and turn over.” 

Al obeyed. It’d been a while- on the occasions they did this, Al was usually in charge. But sometimes, it was nice letting go of that power.

Cool fingers touched him gently, probing, getting him ready for something bigger. As Sam’s length entered him, Al groaned, letting his eyes roll back into his head. He concentrated on keeping rhythm with Sam.

As more and more of Sam entered, Al could feel the pressure building. He felt very close when Sam’s hand squeezed his thigh. Al squeezed back when he was ready, their mutual signal. They came, nearly together.

After cleaning up, Sam held Al close and kissed him. Al rubbed Sam’s leg then closed his eyes.

He opened them when a thought came to him. Al turned over and grinned wickedly at Sam, narrowing his eyes. “Hey, since you topped me, that means you fucked the Elk Ridge Corn Monster. Does that make you a cornfucker?”

Sam groaned and bopped Al in the head with his pillow. “Go to sleep, Al.”

**Author's Note:**

> I admit it. I wrote this fic (based off of this post: http://beanlockwell.tumblr.com/post/170619217208/momomomma2-momomomma2-trying-to-convince) just so I could have Al call Sam a cornfucker. 
> 
> AND IT WAS WORTH IT.


End file.
